Tag Archives: Borussia Dortmund

Column, Football

Will Premier League teams ever come back to China?

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Thousands of Chinese soccer fans went home very disappointed last Monday evening, following the cancellation of the much-anticipated Manchester derby, after rain the previous week had left the pitch at the Bird’s Nest stadium in an unplayable state. Coupled with less than stellar pre-season tours in previous years, it’s hard to see many top Premier League teams jumping at the chance to return to China, especially when trips to the US and elsewhere are so much more enjoyable.

The expected resumption of hostilities between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, the new coaches of City and United respectively, had shone an unusually bright spotlight on this pre-season friendly, which, unfortunately, only served to highlight the inadequacies of the event’s preparation.

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Football

Suning’s Barca deal continues Chinese trend

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Stories started to spread on Monday that Chinese home appliance chain Suning was set to buy a stake in Spanish megaclub Barcelona. If true, it would have blown news of Alibaba buying a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande out of the water.

Barca Director General Antoni Rossich is flanked by Suning's EVP/GM Li Bin (L) and VP Sun Weiming (R)
Barca Director General Antoni Rossich is flanked by Suning’s EVP/GM Li Bin (L) and VP Sun Weiming (R)

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Football

PSG becomes Huawei’s jewel in the crown

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Despite effectively being blocked from doing anything of consequence in the US, Chinese telecoms group Huawei has been continuing its expansion plans in Europe and elsewhere, thanks in part to an increasingly successful soft power campaign that has seen the firm partner up with a variety of sports properties. In the last year alone, Huawei signed deals with:  Continue reading PSG becomes Huawei’s jewel in the crown →

Football

Huawei uses sports to combat politics

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It’s almost becoming its own feature at this point: who has Huawei sponsored this week? This year the company has signed sponsorship deals with the ITU World Triathlon Grand Finale in London, German soccer team Borussia Dortmund, NZ soccer team Wellington Phoenix, and Australian rugby league side Canberra Raiders. Then there was a China-New Zealand soccer match, the 2011 Italian Super Cup in Beijing, plus Atletico Madrid in last year’s Madrid derby, and that’s before we get on to Huawei’s recent musical tie-ups with Coldplay and, er, the Jonas Brothers.

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Football

More global sports deals for Huawei

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It’s been another big week for Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in the world of sports. Firstly, as previously mentioned, the company sponsored the ITU World Triathlon Grand Finale in London last weekend (and, as an aside, the ITU is the International Triathlon Union, not the International Telecommunications Union, as originally mentioned in this (now corrected, but still) shocker of a piece by Sir Simon Jenkins), meaning plenty of prominent signage for Huawei all over London’s Hyde Park.

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Football, Olympics

Huawei to take global sporting PR tour to London

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I’ve written before about Chinese telecoms company Huawei using sports and entertainment to combat the atrocious PR it tends to get around the world. That trend is continuing, but the company now appears to be spurning the US and focusing more on Europe.

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Football

Money makes the world go round – but is ruining sports

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Since I submitted this week Sports Talk column yesterday evening, I’ve seen a fair amount of talk on the same issue of money ruining sports: the Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson arguing that Bayern’s UEFA Champions League win kills the dreams of many teams, and Tom Byer lamenting Bayern buying up Dortmund’s players, while Barcelona – another club that supposedly prides itself on its youth development – spends countless millions on Neymar, recently named the world’s Most Marketable athlete.

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Neymar: no longer promoting Chinese carmaker Chery after playing his last match for Santos

Here in China, Guangzhou’s – or more specific Evergrande’s – millions are fast making the CSL an annual foregone conclusion. Continue reading Money makes the world go round – but is ruining sports →